While looking for a new, unique restaurant experience, I noticed an American-style vegan restaurant located in the Milpitas Square Center called RawASF.
The name evoked a sense of confidence, entrepreneurship, and an attempt to appeal to newer generations. I was intrigued. There were a variety of foods, including smoothies, burgers, sandwiches, superfood bowls, and breakfast options. The diversity of just the burger patties, which included well-known vegan patties options such as the Impossible patty, but also some restaurant originals such as the “house taro mushroom,” showed the restaurant was really committed to being flexible and healthy. One of the restaurant’s more unique options was the superfood bowl, consisting of a variety of fruits, nuts, seeds, and other ingredients.
There was no explanation in the menu for what options like “sub salad style” and “house beet energy” meant, so I felt uninformed while ordering. I ordered an OG Burger with a black bean patty
along with french fries, a “House Bánh Mì” (basically a long sandwich) with added avocado and an “Avocado Truffle Burger,” with an impossible patty, cut 1/2, extra truffle oil, and no tomato, with fries.
The food was a little pricey, as the OG Burger, which was the
cheapest from what I ordered, cost $12, a side of fries cost $3.50, and cost $4 if bought individually. Not including tips, everything together cost around $51.
The service time took around 15 minutes, a bit long for me, but this was made up for by the presentation of the food. The buns and sandwich bread looked well cooked and, overall, everything looked appetizing.
The OG Burger was a bit disappointing for how tasty it looked. This may have been due to my choice of a black bean patty, which tasted like nothing, while the salty sauce slightly overpowered the other ingredients like the vegetables, bread, and cheese. The overall taste did not stand out in any way.
The House Bánh Mì was much more enjoyable. The bread was toasted perfectly and the Beyond meat, pickled daikon, and other vegetables blended together well, although I couldn’t taste the sauce very well. The jalapeno was slightly too strong at times, which was surprising since I consider myself pretty spice tolerant. Out of everything I bought, this was the best tasting.
The Avocado Truffle Burger didn’t have a distinct flavor either, probably because there were no tomatoes to balance out the large amount of avocado. It was like the OG Burger, but with a blander sauce and more avocado.The sauce was nowhere near as strong, which I liked. The fries were baked and had little salt, which was pretty unique and fitted well with the health theme but were slightly bur.
Overall, the food options were unique, diverse, and well-presented. I would recommend anyone looking for an accommodating, American-style, vegan-friendly restaurant to try out RawASF, but don’t expect anything too exciting.